Effective Practices: School Hiring Policies that Support DEIJ

Gleaning from our experience working with small schools and organizations for nearly five years as a group and decades as individuals, we have created a series of documents on Effective Practices that we are excited to offer to our clients. 

Each document is focused on a key theme or area that clients often have questions about or need support to improve. Our intention with the Effective Practice documents is to offer maps for our clients and share resources that can serve a wide range of small schools and types of organizations. We intend for these resources to support unique inquiries and journeys while addressing common themes, as communities widen to become more inclusive, equitable, diverse, and just.

We are delighted to introduce our series on Effective Practices today with Hiring Policies that Support DEIJ, which addresses the importance of conscientious employee recruitment and retention. 

Document preview

Communities thrive when members come from a variety of backgrounds and identities. How can independent schools and other organizations recruit and retain a wider range of candidates?

Effective practices to consider:

• Hire a search firm with DEIJ experience (Carney Sandoe has a great reputation)

• Reach out to local colleges of education 

• can be a great source of assistants and interns 

• students often need a practicum to graduate

• Develop a “homegrown” training pipeline

• support parents and graduates to enter a training program and get into the classroom 

• Use job boards (a few examples include: ColorComm, Diversity Job Board, Diversity Jobs, Idealist, LGBT Connect, LinkedIn, Pink Jobs, Pride Careers)

​​Remember: this is not a quick-fix solution and must be done thoughtfully and with the candidate’s needs in mind, as well as the organization’s.

• Consider what a candidate from a non-dominant group gains by working at your organization. What’s in it for them? Benefits? Community? Work environment? For prospective Board members, maybe a non-vested membership position offers networking or resume-building opportunities, for example.

• Onboarding and setting the person up for success are key

• One of the major barriers in hiring folks of color and people from non-dominant groups is a school’s or organization’s reputation in retaining former employees whose concerns spread within communities

• Onboarding is a lengthy process, not just the first 3-4 months

• Provide relevant professional development for employees from non-dominant groups

• Consider affinity groups for employees

The full document (available only to current clients) includes more effective practices, suggested questions for hiring, and a list of resources. If you’re a current client and don’t have access to this document, please write to us at connect@almapartners.net for a copy. We also offer 1-hour consulting sessions to go deeper on the content of this document. If you’re not a client yet, book an introductory call with us to learn more!